Import and export prices in November 2011

December 16, 2011

Import prices rose 0.7 percent in November following declines of 0.5 percent, 0.1 percent, and 0.4 percent the three previous months. The November advance is the largest monthly increase since a 2.6-percent rise in April.

A 3.6-percent rise in import fuel prices drove the November increase in overall import prices. The November increase followed declines in five of the six previous months. Fuel prices rose 31.6 percent over the past 12 months despite declining 7.2 percent between April and October.

The price index for nonfuel imports declined 0.2 percent for the second consecutive month, the first monthly decreases since a 0.3-percent drop in July 2010.

Export prices advanced 0.1 percent in November after a 2.1-percent drop the previous month. In November, a rise in agricultural prices more than offset falling nonagricultural prices.

Agricultural prices increased 1.5 percent in November after declining 6.5 percent the previous month. An upturn in corn and soybeans prices, which rose 9.0 percent and 4.7 percent, respectively, primarily drove the November advance.

Prices for nonagricultural exports edged down 0.1 percent in November following a 1.5-percent decrease in October. Falling prices for both nonagricultural industrial supplies and materials and consumer goods contributed to the November decline.

These data are from the BLS International Price program. Import and export price data are subject to revision. For more information, see "U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes — November 2011" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-11-1746.